Fabrication of a 3 dimensional dielectrophoresis electrode by a metal inkjet printing method

Sang-Ho Lee,Yul Koh,Yong-Kweon Kim,Seung Lee,Gyu-Young Yun

doi:10.1186/2213-9621-1-5

Abstract

We proposed a micro electrode fabrication method by a metal inkjet printing technology for the bio-applications of dielectrophoresis (DEP). The electrodes are composed of bottom planar gold (Au) electrodes and three dimensional (3D) silver (Ag) electrodes fabricated locally on the Au electrode through metal inkjet printing. We observed the negative DEP characteristics of the 4 μm polystyrene beads on the both electrodes at the 500 kHz, AC 20 Vpp point. The number of beads trapped on the printed Ag electrode is 79 and 25 on the planar Au electrode because of spatially larger electric field in a 3D electrode system.

Highlights

Three dimensional (3D) electrodes are effectively used in a wide range of applications such as electronic circuit components, micro sensors, micro actuators, and microfluidic system
To investigate the wettability of after printing silver (Ag) ink on the surface, we measured the contact angles of the Ag inks onto each FC film and Au surface, because the printing area in the proposed fabrication process is affected by the FC film patterning process
FC film patterning was very effective at making inkphobic boundaries to prevent droplets from spreading after the Ag inkjet printing

Summary

Introduction

Three dimensional (3D) electrodes are effectively used in a wide range of applications such as electronic circuit components, micro sensors, micro actuators, and microfluidic system. Compared to the planar electrode, the 3D electrode structure allows it to transmit a large DEP force to the biological samples due to the high gradient electrical field generated between the 3D electrodes [1]. The high gradient electrical field in 3D DEP chips could enhance separation and trapping performance. There are many investigations into the trapping and separation of a biological sample using 3D DEP chips. Inkjet printing can be directly utilized in fabricating 3D. We propose a metal inkjet printing method for the fabrication of the 3D DEP electrode for micro particles manipulation in a microfluidic chamber. A microfluidic chamber was assembled with the electrode chip after printing silver (Ag) 3D electrodes for protecting particles and adjusting for fluid control. The DEP performance was verified using the 4 μm polystyrene beads and AC drive voltage control [5,6,7]

Findings

Results and discussion

Conclusion